


Half Faded Memories of a Brother's Love

by Aquaphoric



Category: Deltora Quest - Emily Rodda, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, デルトラクエスト | Deltora Quest (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Siblings, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, I can't write arguments, New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers, Virtual Reality Post Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 14:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16065278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquaphoric/pseuds/Aquaphoric
Summary: Kokichi gets an unexpected visit from his brother.





	Half Faded Memories of a Brother's Love

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! Another birthday gift fic! Jsjfndmd sorry for three birthday fics in a row wanting to make my friends happy on their special days makes me write!! This isn't beta'd at the moment, but I promise when it does I'll edit this!
> 
> Anyway, this fic is for my wonderful friend Eden who got me into my new special interest, Deltora Quest! If you're wondering, this is set in her Ouma sibling au for Kokichi and the character Dain from DQ, as they look really similar!! I fell in love with it, and decided to take a shot at writing something for it!  
> (I want to mention that in my headcanon for the au, Dain and Kokichi are half Japanese and half Australian, since Dain comes from an Australian series that got adapated into an anime)

Kokichi Ouma was once told _‘you’re alone, and you always will be,’_ and it was the truth. Here he was, recently turned 20 years old, in a small, lonely apartment, despite having earned quite a bit of money from Team Danganronpa for having made it as far as he did in their stupid death game. Speaking of, it’d been about a year since Kokichi last saw or talked to his castmates. It was fine, though. They didn’t need him and he didn’t need them. End of the story.

Besides, Kokichi wasn’t a total hermit. He had a rather boring job as a clerk at a small convenience store close to his apartment. That was good enough for him in terms of going outside and interacting with people.

Kokichi was fine with how life was going, even if it is the same thing, day after day: wake up, shower, eat breakfast, go to work, go home after his shift, eat dinner, go to bed, and repeat. It was strange; back then, he was all about spicing things up, making everything interesting and not following the script, and now he was nothing more than a sheep following its shephard. 

Some days it felt like he wasn’t even alive. Danganronpa really changed him.

He was lucky to be alive physically though. Dying really isn’t that nice of an experience in his opinion, and as fun as it sounds, burning in Hell didn’t sound very ideal as opposed to being alive and breathing or even going to Heaven -- if that was possible for someone like Kokichi.

This life was never going to change, from now until- _knock knock._

_‘Huh, odd,’_ Kokichi thought, being broken out of a mindless trance he fell in from T.V. He usually never got people at his door, unless they were people trying to sell something, but even that was far and in between. Even so, he put on his sweetest face and went to open up his door.

Except it’s not a salesperson. It’s a face he hasn’t seen in years. He feels his facade drop for a second.

Purple hair, purple eyes. Just like his. His face is more finely shaped than Kokichi’s though, and taller than he could ever hope to be.

It’s his older brother, Dain. And he’s holding a small box of cards.  
___

Well. This is weird. He certainly didn’t expect a visit from his estranged brother.

There’s a rather awkward silence; after all, what are you supposed to say to someone you haven’t seen in so long? It’s broken when Dain clears his throat and awkwardly says, “Uh, hi, can I come in?”

“No.”

Kokichi attempts to close the door, but Dain puts his foot in between it and the frame before he can. _'How cliche,’_ Kokichi thinks.

“Wait, please!” Dain sighs, “I’m sorry for showing up here unannounced, but I was just...in the area and decided to visit you. ”

Barely anyone knew his address, and nobody carried around cards unless they were weirdos. “You’re a really terrible liar you know, _Dain_.” He hisses out his brother’s name like it’s poison. Why should he let him in? As far as he’s concerned, Dain can barely be called his brother, especially with how their relationship was in the past. A relationship too fractured to be mended whole. But...

“...But,” he continues, “If you really want to be let in my humble abode so badly despite not even being invited, then fine. Just promise you aren’t someone pretending to be my brother so you can like, murder me or something.”

He doesn’t even know why he’s letting Dain in -- the last time the two truly saw each other was on bad terms, and Kokichi had resented him for personal reasons since he was 10, 11 years old? Dain always was the persistent type though, so he’s probably just giving in before he becomes the annoying kind of persistent. 

Inside the apartment, Dain sits patiently on the couch in the living room while Kokichi prepares some tea per his brother’s request. As it brews, the two make the best conversation they can.

“So, uhh, how has life been?” Dain asks.

In a saccharine sweet tone, Kokichi replies, “Hm, well, I’m alive, so it could be worse. Otherwise, I work an amazing job as a clerk at the nearby convenience store, and I get so much fan mail that I just burn them all so my house doesn’t end up looking like a hoarder’s.”

Dain replies with a question. “I suppose you’re lying?” 

Ah, that’s right. The only other person aside from the detective to detect his lies was his brother. Kokichi had a knack for lying even before Danganronpa, and he learned from who he thought had been the best. Dain was right, he was lying; his job sucked balls, and the only fan mail he got was about bills. He probably would get fan mail if any of his fans knew his mail address.

Still, it would probably be fun to believe the lie. “Aw, come on!” He whined, letting his waterworks start up, “Y-you won’t believe your little brother? No wonder you’re the worst!” 

“That’s not going to work on me, you know. I know that trick.” 

Kokichi’s tears disappeared just as quick as they appeared. “Ugh, I forgot that you were no fun. ‘Course, you were always about your dumb studies and pleasing Mom and Dad, which are the exact opposites of fun.”

Dain falls silent. There’s a look on his face that Kokichi can’t exactly read, so he ignores it. He finishes making the tea, pouring it into two small cups. He gives one cup to Dain, keeping the other for himself as he sits in a chair across from the couch.

“So,” Kokichi starts, “what’s that box of cards for? Thinking of playing some Solitaire while you’re here?”

“Actually, I was thinking of playing a game with you? Just a thought.”

Kokichi puts on a thinking face, sipping his tea. Cards games, card games…

“Go Fish.” Kokichi says suddenly.

“What?”

“I want to play Go Fish.”

“O-oh, alright.”

Dain quickly sets the game up. He hands out seven cards for himself and Kokichi, and starts the game. 

An hour or so passes. About four rounds have been played, two wins for each of them. Kokichi expects to play more, but Dain suddenly announces that he has to go back home. Though he promises, “I’ll come back next week, if you want me to.”

“I’ll think about it,” Kokichi replies. 

His brother laughs. “Thanks for having me anyways, even if I practically barged in here. Bye.”

Dain leaves, leaving Kokichi all alone (again.) 

He has a week to decide if he wants him back here.  
____

Like he promised, Dain comes back a week later, again holding the box of cards. Though he doesn’t want to, Kokichi lets him in this time with less resistance. He still doesn’t know why he’s letting him in, maybe it’s the persistence thing. Like last week, Kokichi prepares some tea, they play and converse about what happened over the past week and swapping funny stories, then end the visit with Dain promising to return. Soon it becomes an addition to Kokichi’s schedule, however unwilling on his part. He won’t admit that he almost actually has fun playing card games with his brother.

On a particular week near the end of July, instead of bringing the regular cards, Dain brings Uno cards.

“What’s with the Uno cards?” Kokichi inquires.

“Oh, I just remembered how much you used to like to play Uno when we were younger, so I thought we could play that today.” Dain replies with a smile.

He pokes at Dain’s forehead, “Oh, brother, I hated that game when I was a kid! You should know that of all people, you beat me at it all the time!”

Dain sighs and smiles. “Yeah, of course you did.”

That was how it usually went when Dain suggested a game; Kokichi makes up a lie about how he hates the game, and Dain puts on a smile and pretends to believe the lie. It was funny to Kokichi.

In the living room, as the play Uno and eat ramen -- Kokichi had run out of tea -- Kokichi says, “Y’know, I just realized I haven’t asked you how your life has been before you started visiting me, even if I couldn’t care less. So, tell me; what has life been like for the extraordinary and amazing Dain Ouma since Danganronpa Season 52?” He asks that in the same saccharine tone he did when he barely told Dain about his life, with just a tiny hint of venom tainting his words. He lays down a Pull Four card, changes the color to yellow, and puts out a yellow 4.

As he pulls four cards, Dain replies, “Well, I work at a rather small company now, but just an intern. Nothing too special.” He takes his turn, laying down a yellow 5. “You remember my friend Lief I used to bring over for studying sometimes? He’s my...roommate now, he’s really nice to live with.”

He’s lying, Kokichi can tell -- well, not exactly lying, but not exactly telling the truth either. Half truths and half lies.

Kokichi lays down a yellow 8. “Oh, a roommate, how touching. If only I had someone who could deal with my shit enough to be my roommate. Of course, wanting a roommate implies that I’m lonely, which I’m not.”

Dain gives an unsure laugh as he puts out a yellow skip, a blue skip, and then a blue 3. “Oh, also, in my free time I run a Youtube channel. It’s rather small at the moment, but a lot of people seem to like it.”

“Oooh, a Youtube channel! Whatcha do on it? Are you a gamer like me?”

“No, not really. I actually do song covers and the like on there. If you want I can give you the name to check it out.”

“Hmm,” Kokichi draws five cards before he gets a blue 3 and places that down, “Alright. Give me it, but there’s no guarantee I’ll look at it.”

Despite that possibility, Dain seems rather happy.

They play some more rounds, with Kokichi having a majority of wins, before Dain announces again that he has to go home, again saying that he’ll see Kokichi next week. He gives his channel name as promised, and leaves. 

He looks at the name, trying to commit it to memory, then throws it in the slightly overflowing trash can.  
___

It’s one of those nights again. A night where Kokichi is plagued by nightmares and trauma and phantom pains. A night where Kokichi is left in near tears and can’t go back to sleep.

He tries to remedy this by ignoring the nightmare, prepare a nice hot drink, and watching a movie so bad he gets bored to sleep. But for some reason tonight none of the bad movies on his DVR seem bad enough at the moment to make him able to sleep, which is frustrating. Being awake means eventually he’ll start thinking about the trauma induced dream, and he hates the feelings that come from that, how weak and vulnerable it makes him feel, even if there was nobody but himself to see his sorry state. It was why he preferred to live alone.

Something in his brain reminds him of what he was given a couple weeks ago, and pulls out his phone to open the Youtube app. To the best of his memory he inputs the name in the search bar, and the channel he was looking for pops up as the first result. The icon is of a cute anime style chibi version of his brother wearing clothes that look like they came out of a fantasy children’s series. Below the channel name the subscriber count reads _‘2K subscribers.’_

Dain’s channel, as he himself said, consists of song covers. In the playlists, the songs are seperated in two; songs covered in English and songs covered in Japanese. There’s not too many uploads; the earliest video says it was uploaded a little over two years ago, but it still impresses Kokichi how many he’s gotten out in that amount of time. 

Kokichi remembers, before Dain basically abandoned him, they really liked to sing, usually by themselves or obnoxious duets. Their parents hadn’t minded when they were younger, until when Dain entered high school, then it was like singing at random became forbidden, as when they did their mother told them to stop. He can’t remember the reason why, but maybe it was because their mother finally got fed up with it. Or maybe because she believed singing wouldn’t help with either of their future careers. 

Their parents were rather slightly obsessed with securing good futures for their sons and ignoring everything that could stray them away from it. Of course, they cared about Dain more -- he got the best grades and was a hard worker; they called him their ‘perfect son’ as Kokichi struggled to keep up with his brother. It was like he barely existed in their eyes. Even when he got a good grade or did something great, Dain showed him up with something even greater. Dain got all the praise while Kokichi was shackled in the shadows. It still made Kokichi jealous thinking about it. 

It didn’t make Kokichi sad thinking about how Dain decided that grades were more important than his little brother.

Clicking on the English playlist, it goes from the latest to oldest video, and the first song is titled _GIMMICK_ , the thumbnail catches Kokichi’s attention for being bright and colorful. He clicks on it in curiosity, then clicks on shuffle.

The music crashes in like a tsunami, loud and powerful and upbeat. It remains like that, even with Dain’s voice over the music. He never knew his brother could sound like this, this upbeat tone of voice just sounds unnatural to Kokichi. Before he knows it, the song ends, and shuffle changes it to a song called _Ghost Rule_. This time, the vocals are a lot more charged with emotion, showing the obvious effort put into it. 

_‘I only know how to lie, I guess I really can’t dodge it this time. Now law to pardon my crime, no clemency for this evil of mine!’_

Kokichi already relates to the first lyrics. He wonders if the song was made with him in mind, even if the cover art is of the Vocaloid girl with toothpaste hair whose name escapes him. With the pink blood coming from her mouth, who knows if it was a stylistic choice or an inspiration from Danganronpa; though more would guess the latter. The comments below the video sure seem to think so. Kokichi likes to scroll through comment sections to see what dumb stuff people have to say.

Soon enough, the video ends, and shuffle once again changes it to a song called _Wings_. This time, the song has a more gentle, melancholic sound. A change of pace from the last two songs, but Dain’s voice still puts in strong emotion in the lyrics and his singing. Something from the description catches Kokichi’s eye.

The first line in the description for the video says, _‘A rather small dedication to everyone who suffered because of Danganronpa.’_ The date is a few months after Danganronpa V3 ended.

He leans back on his couch and listens, closing his tired eyes. He doesn’t even realize he fell asleep until his alarm jerks him awake. 

Later at work he finds himself humming _Ghost Rule_.  
____

This week at the end of August, Dain doesn’t bring cards -- he brings movies.

“One question: why?” 

“I honestly got just a little bored of playing card games, so I thought we could mix it up a little with some movies?”

The movies Dain brought consist of Disney and Ghibli. Films from their childhood. Kokichi reluctantly agrees.

Inside his apartment, he can get a better look at what Dain brought. It’s just four movies -- _The Aristocats, Beauty & The Beast, Kiki’s Delivery Service,_ and _Howl’s Moving Castle_. Fond memories of family movie nights, eating dinner, giving funny commentary on the movie, a good time for everyone. Until the movie nights slowly trickled to a stop, and Kokichi usually found himself watching movies alone, which was way less fun.

Too tired to make dinner himself, Kokichi orders delivery, sitting on the couch as Dain puts _Kiki’s Delivery Service_ into his Blu-ray player. He sits himself a good half-arms distance from Kokichi. 

30 minutes into the movie and there’s a knock on the door. Kokichi gets up to get the food, pays the delivery boy, and returns with hands full of takeout. They eat in silence as the movie continues. They don’t talk at all through the whole thing, which Kokichi is slightly grateful for. He doesn’t feel like talking much tonight.

Near the end of the movie, he hears soft snoring, and looks over to see Dain has fallen asleep. _‘He became one of those old people who intend to watch something but can’t even stay awake for the whole thing,’_ Kokichi thinks with a tinge of bitterness. Dain isn’t even that old, just a mere three years older than him. Still, he sits through the rest of the movie by his technical lonesome, even through the credits. Afterwards he turns it back to the regular channel, turns off the T.V. and looks at his peacefully sleeping brother.

_‘Should I wake him up so he can go home, or let him practically crash at my place like a good person would?’_ He ponders. In his pondering, he grabs a bottle of soda to help with his decision. It’s late, so he probably shouldn’t bother Dain. But he’s in his apartment when he shouldn’t even be there in the first place, and it’s not like he cares whether he gets a good sleep or not. Besides, he should have gone home by now.

Finishing the soda bottle, despite his argument telling him he should wake Dain up, the drink made Kokichi tired too. He makes the final decision of going to bed and leaving Dain be. He just hopes by the time he wakes up his brother is out of his home.

Step one: don’t wake up as a mess because of nightmares.

Failed step one.

The nightmares are especially bad tonight. It’s always a jumbled mess of what he faced and did in Danganronpa. He wished he had dreams about the good times, but what good times were there except half faded memories of when his brother loved him? The lies he lived of being happy and joyful didn’t count. He had two kinds of nightmares: emotional and violent.

Tonight is a violent nightmare. It jerks his body in his sleep, trying to escape choking hands and piercing arrows, but to no avail. It hurts. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts _it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts-_

The next thing he knows, he’s on the floor of his bedroom. His body and head hurts -- he probably hit his head against the nightstand. There’s a burn of unshed tears in his eyes too.

With the combination of suddenly waking up and physical pain, Kokichi doesn’t notice his brother calling his name until his shadow looms over him.

“Kokichi, are you alright? Please answer me.” Dain asks worriedly. There’s a concerned look in his eyes. It’s almost annoying how light of a sleeper he is.

Kokichi grumbles, “I’m fine,” and gets up. Walking into his kitchen, he grabs another bottle of soda and begins to down it. His body still kinda hurts.

“Um, sorry for falling asleep in the middle of the movie. It’s a bad habit of mine.”

“Ehh, why are you apologizing for something like that? It doesn’t matter anyways, it’s not like I care.”

They both sit down on the couch together, still half-arms distance from each other. Kokichi turns on the T.V. and finds a movie to watch. The time reads 3:54 AM.

A nervous air hangs around Dain as he asks, “Did you have a nightmare?”

“What am I, five? Of course not.” Kokichi lies as he rolls his eyes.

“I-it’s okay, you know, I have them too. Nothing to be ashamed of.”

“ _Wooooow_ , you’re _soooo_ special. I told you, I don’t have nightmares.”

Dain is so annoying.

“Well, just out of curiosity, do you go to a therapist or anything?”

He used to, when he was still in the Team Danganronpa building and going to therapy was mandatory. Or at least therapy came to him, as he was bed bound for a good while due to his muscles atrophying the eight months he slept in a coma. He never liked therapy; it was annoying, and it meant showing vulnerability to a complete stranger. 

Instead of a statement, he answers with a question of his own. “Hey, why are you still here? You should’ve gone home already and yet here you are.”

Dain sighs out, “You’re right, I should leave. See you next week.” And he’s out the door.

Kokichi almost kind of hopes he doesn’t return.  
____

The past few weeks, jobwise, have been completely shit. Stupid customers, a boss who makes him do everything, having to stand on his feet all day, and probably more things Kokichi can’t name. Not to mention that out of the job Dain comes over every damn week; that just adds onto the stress. One of these days he’s gonna snap. 

It’s a not so great work day, and Kokichi is wound up to all hell. And it’s the day when Dain is supposed to arrive. Kokichi doesn’t have it in him to deal with his brother, but he’s gonna have to. 

He does so, right on time. When Kokichi opens the door, he immediately notices Dain has something behind his back with one arm while holding a box of cards with the other. There’s a smile on his face as he tells him, “Guess what? I have a surprise for you.”

He lets his brother inside, keeping his eyes away from what he has. In the living room, Dain asks him to close his eyes as he sets down the cards, which he does. “Okay, now open them up please.”

Kokichi opens his eyes.

In Dain’s hands is a cake in a container, top covered in fruit. No, not a cake exactly; it’s a pavlova. Their dad always made that instead of regular birthday cake on their birthdays as a way to share his heritage. The last time Kokichi had one was some time before he got into Danganronpa.

“Surprise! A pavlova! I just decided to make this because, well, you deserve it. I remember how you always got excited to eat these, and-”

Something in him breaks.

“I don’t need your damn cake!” 

Before Dain can realize it, Kokichi has smacked the container out of his hand. It crashes to the floor, the pavlova inside smashing against it.

“Kokichi? What’s wrong?”

“Ha! _What’s wrong_? I’ll tell you what’s wrong: I’m stuck in a frustrating dead end job, I’m going to die alone someday, and you...you think you can just waltz in here with your goody two-shoes act like nothing’s wrong! You think you can just pretend to be my brother! Tell me, if you can be here for me now, then where were you back then? Where were you when I actually needed you in my life?

“Oh wait, that’s right! You _weren’t_. You weren’t there at all! Because after middle school you just decided to cut me off, because apparently grades and making Mom and Dad happy were more important to you than your fucking little brother!” 

Kokichi has snapped.

“Kokichi I...I…” 

“You what! Gonna make up some excuse of how _'but I still did love you, honest!’_ Bullshit! If you did love me, which I find hard to believe, you wouldn’t have done what you did!”

Kokichi is panting heavily from his conviction. He can only hear his heartbeat in his ears.

Dain’s frightened expression changes as he takes a deep breath into one of confidence. “I did what I did because I _do_ care about you Kokichi. Please, believe me. I highly regret it now, but back then I believed it was best thing to do if I wanted a happy future for us. I never, ever thought of grades or our parents as more important than you. Life back then was hard for me too-”

“Don’t try to turn this into your sob story bucko!” Kokichi interrupts, “‘Oh, life was so hard for the extraordinary and amazing Dain Ouma who was loved by everyone. He abandoned his little brother but it’s okay because he did it so he could make him happy later!’ Fuck off! I was 10, you know how much it fucked me up?! Realizing the brother you loved so much suddenly decides you aren’t worth his time?!” 

“And I was 13! If I remember correctly, thirteen year olds aren’t exactly known for thinking straight! I did love you -- I practically fucking raised you! I did everything I could for you! -- and all I wanted was to someday get us away from Mom and Dad so we didn’t have such heavy expectations on us, fuck I even joined a goddamn death game to try get enough money so we could move away! And I’m not telling you this as an excuse, I’m just telling the truth. I genuinely wish I could go back and fix everything.”

“‘Everything you could for me?’ What the hell have you ever done for me?! All you’ve ever done for is make me feel worthless by showing me up and being better than me! Don’t try to make me feel grateful for you because you raised me, you still abandoned me. And wishing you could fix the past can’t change it, it can’t change a goddamned thing.”

Dain seems taken aback for a moment. Then he inhales deeply, groans and runs his hand through his hair. “Kokichi, why the hell are you like this?” He says quietly to himself.

Kokichi screeches, _“Because you made me like this!”_

His brother’s face turns blurry. It takes a second for Kokichi to realize he’s crying. The tears fall and Dain’s face clears up. He bears a surprised, astonished expression. Kokichi hasn’t cried in so long. He pushes the heels of his hands against his eyes to stop them, but to no avail. 

Four years ago, they had an argument almost exactly like this one. Four years ago, Kokichi blamed his brother for everything. Four years ago, it was the last time the two saw each other in person as Dain stormed out of the room, and the next time Kokichi saw his brother was on the reality game show Danganronpa as Dain Ouma, the Ultimate Servant.

His voice is tight as he says, “Get out.”

“Kichi, I-”

“I said _get out!_ ”

Before he can see what Dain does next, Kokichi shuts himself in his bedroom. With suddenly weak legs he slides to the floor, attempting to keep everything inside like he always has.

This time, though, he fails.

The tears run down his face like rivers, his throat gets tight as he cries. Someone is wailing in pain, in sadness and hurt and despair. It doesn’t take Kokichi too long to realize it’s him who is wailing so pathetically.

He always hated how weak, how out of control crying made him feel. It was different from when he fake cried, at least he had some control of that. Being out of control of anything scared him, it scared him so badly. There were too many situations where that happened, there was a whole period of his life where he had no control no matter how hard he tried. He attempts to control his crying, get a sense that he can be alright, but utterly fails as even stronger sobbing rips from his throat. Why was he so damn weak?

For so long he had bottled up his emotions, bottled everything he could to seem okay, but then stupid Dain had to come in and crack his bottle. Now everything was spilling out unwillingly and there was nothing he could do to fix it. Especially the grief.

Grief made up a majority of his bottle. It was the thing he packed up the most, and there was just too much to deal with at once. Grief at the deaths of his castmates in the simulation for Danganronpa V3, at everything he went through in the game, at the trauma of his own death, at his self-isolation and loneliness, at his brother cutting him off for no reason. He hated to admit it, but even the grief for his brother’s death in Season 52 was spilling out through his tears. So much of his life was hidden grief and pain that he never told anyone.

He wails, wails, and wails. He doesn’t stop until his voice becomes too raw to make sound anymore, finally making a few weak coughs before stopping his crying. Once he finally gets himself composed, he opens his bedroom door again to find Dain and the pavlova on the ground gone. It fills him with a small sense of relief.

It only lasts about five minutes though. After he throws himself facedown on the couch, the door opens and his brother’s voice calls his name out. Kokichi doesn’t have the energy to react. He thought about a lot in those five minutes. 

A hand shakes him. Kokichi turns his face to look up at Dain; his face is tinted red, and faint tear stains streak down his cheeks. For a few minutes it’s like a standoff of who’ll move first. Kokichi loses as he sits up to let Dain sit next to him. In his hands is a McDonald’s bag and a drink carrier. Slowly he takes out each item from the bag -- a 20 piece McNugget, two large fries and an apple pie. He puts the drink carrier on the table. Dain doesn’t say a single thing.

In silence, they start to eat. A melancholic air hangs around them. 

Halfway through eating the 20 piece McNugget, Dain sighs. “Kokichi I...I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. I-I’m so sorry for everything I put you through, I should’ve just apologized earlier and not make excuses for what I did. I’m sorry for cutting you off, I-I can’t excuse that, I thought-”

He’s suddenly cut off by Kokichi pulling on his cheeks. “Stop apologizing.”

“Wh-what?”

Kokichi breathes in, breathes out, “I said, stop apologizing. I was thinking about what we said during the fight, and remember how I said you can’t fix the past? I realized if you can’t do that, then why get so hung up on it? It literally doesn’t matter anymore. Besides, we’re super fucked up for a multitude of reasons, so it super doesn’t matter. This doesn’t mean I forgive you or resent you less or anything, you still have a lot of things to do before anything is remotely fixed, but I’m finally deciding to put the water under the bridge.”

Despite that, Dain seems happy and relieved. Kokichi won't tell hin that he's just the slightest bit grateful for the apology, however late it may be.

“Something I’ve been wondering, though,” Kokichi asks, “Why did you suddenly visit me the other day and think you can walk back into my life just like that? Also, why did you join Danganronpa?”

His brother lets out a breath. “I just...I really missed you, Kokichi. I missed how we used to be. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I wanted to try and repair what we had, even though I felt like I didn’t deserve to get it back because of what I did to you. I remember being so happy though when you let me in on my first visit, I thought you would try harder to keep me out.

“Also, I joined Danganronpa...for you. I heard about the prize money if you won, and found it the perfect opportunity to finally get a chance to leave our parents. I wanted so bad to live my fantasy life for us that I barely realized how much harm I was causing you. Again, I’m sorry about all that.”

“Hmm.”

There’s silence again for a few moments before Dain speaks up, “All that reminds me; one, why did _you_ join Danganronpa? And two, why did you let me in? You don’t have to answer, I’m just-”

“I wanted to prove I could be better than you,” Kokichi replies.

Dain looks surprised.

“When you died in 52, I saw it as a chance to finally _beat_ you at something. I told myself I would win Danganronpa, prove I was better than you, and at last get the love and respect that I deserved. Funny, right? I died in the same exact chapter as you, too.” Kokichi laughs. Dain laughs along. “As for why I let you in...that’s a secret. A liar never tells all his truths.”

If Kokichi was just a little more of an honest person, he would’ve revealed the truth; _I missed my brother too._

“If a liar never tells all his truths, then I guess I’m barely a liar anymore,” Dain replies. He then tells Kokichi that he lied about certain details of his life; he actually works at a big name company and his roommate is actually his boyfriend, to which Kokichi reacts to with faux surprise and offendment at how his dear brother could lie to him. 

It’s surprising how they easy they can fall into something like this with only having a few of their pieces back together. They continue to laugh and joke and eat their food until Dain finally makes his leave, but not before he tells him, “Oh, Kichi, you know my birthday is next week. I have dinner plans with friends, including some of your old friends. Do you want to join?”

Kokichi asks, “Who’s coming? Of my _‘friends’_ , I mean.”

“Uh, Saihara, Amami, and Gokuhara. Are you alright with that?”

Kokichi hasn’t talked with any of them in so long. He’s not sure how they’ll react to seeing him again. But he agrees to join. Dain leaves with a smile on his face.

It’s going to take a good, long time until their relationship is properly mended. This is a good start.  
____

September 22nd, the day of birth for Dain Ouma. It keeps going through Kokichi’s mind as he spiffies up a little to look presentable enough to go out. As he’s checking his wardrobe for something nice, there’s a knock on his door. In a hurry he throws on what matches best to answer. It’s Dain, looking just as nice.

“You ready?” He asks.

“Ready as I’ll ever be!” Kokichi replies, heading out the door to follow Dain down the apartment to his car. 

The first three people he sees through the windows he almost can’t recognize, except for the blond person in the front seat. Behind them though, in the third seat row and open trunk he can recognize the people as Shuichi, Rantaro, and Gonta, just like Dain said. Dain leads him to the third set of doors where he manages to squeeze in between Shuichi and Rantaro. He suddenly feels very nervous and tense, everyone’s eyes are on him now. In the seats in front of him are two girls, one wearing nice yellow clothing with red-brown hair, the other wearing very casual clothes with green-black hair.

Dain turns back to them, introducing the two girls as Neridah and Jasmine. Neridah is cheerful in her greeting to him, but Jasmine seems a little more hostile towards him. Then Dain introduces Jasmine as Gonta’s older sister and now it makes sense. It just adds onto his nervous feelings. At least Lief greets him with the most positivity.

The first few minutes of the ride are rather silent. Maybe it was a mistake to agree to come, maybe he should’ve just declined, maybe-

Then, Shuichi clears his throat and asks him how he’s been doing. Kokichi notices how much chubbier Shuichi is; looks like the former detective finally started to eat properly. It makes him just a little bit happy for his old crush.

After answering his question, conversation flows smoothly through the car. In the back, it was like nothing had happened between the Danganronpa V3 participants as they chatted like friends who hadn’t seen each other in years, like they had no grudges or anything against Kokichi. Kokichi couldn’t even find his inhibitions holding him back from talking to them, not even Gonta.

The conversation continues strongly as they get to the restaurant. Kokichi thinks this is probably the most fun night he’s had yet. Then after great food and good laughs, they go to Dain’s place of residence where they play games, sing songs obnoxiously, watch movies, and after all that give him a birthday pavlova, singing and wishing him a happy 23rd birthday.

Kokichi Ouma was once told, _‘you’re alone, and you always will be,’_ but after tonight, after receiving an apology for that, after feeling like he was alive again, Kokichi thought it might actually be a lie. The wolf had finally shed its sheep’s clothing, and for the first time in a long time, Kokichi felt like everything might be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday Eden! I hope it was a good one, love you! Hope you enjoyed this!!!
> 
> You can find me at:  
> Twitter: @aqua_phoric  
> Tumblr: aqua-phoric


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